


Vital Signs

by Sinesthero



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Borderlands Gift Exchange 2017, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 19:29:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13173660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinesthero/pseuds/Sinesthero
Summary: Rhys gets captured by bandits while doing a survey mission for one of his pet projects. Good thing his lover is the one and only Handsome Jack.





	Vital Signs

**Author's Note:**

> This was my gift for tumblr user C0njidraws for the Borderlands Gift Exchange 2017. It was based on their Hyperon Snake AU, which I adore.

To say Jack was angry was a gross understatement. Fury flowed through his veins like magma and his belly was full of raging fire. He couldn’t let the fire run wild though, not just yet. The only safe option was to channel that energy into executing his carefully planned mission.

At the best of times he loathed the bandits, scumbags, and inbreds that made up the majority of Pandora’s population. This was the worst of times and the very nerve of them to snatch up something that belonged to Handsome Jack and try to keep it locked away.

Multiple times he had warned his younger lover that he did not think his security details for his surveying missions were large enough but the kid was all smiles and reassurances that he would be fine. The team had come through intact every time so far, after all.

Somehow his luck had run out. The loader bot assigned to Rhys had been destroyed and he figured the Hyperion soldiers with him were dead too.

The only way he even was sure that Rhys was still alive is that nested in his cybernetic arm was a tracker that provided Jack his whereabouts and vital information. His blood pressure was high and his heartbeat fast. The poor kid was stressed, probably terrified– he wasn’t used to this kind of danger.

The bandit camp was disgusting– little more than several old Atlas trailers propped up on a multi leveled structure built up against the side of a dusty cliff. Structurally questionable walkways lay to and fro like the fortress of the Lost Boys. They were lost, he supposed; the remnants of the men left behind when Atlas pulled out of Pandora before he crushed their corporation out of existence. Nonetheless, they were men who had crossed Handsome Jack and they would die like the rest of their kind.

The darkest hours of the night were closing in over the patch of dusty land that held the squalid base. That was fortunate.

He had summoned his best and oldest doppelganger; a man once known as Timothy Lawrence, to lead his main force. There was too much risk of getting the kid hurt if they went in with a full force of men, guns blazing, so Jack decided he would have his men wait nearby in the desert. There could draw the attention of the bandits once he had secured Rhys’ safety.

It was comical how easy it was. Even at some degree of a high alert they were laughably easy to maneuver around with his cloaking device.

Still, Jack was careful. Though he wanted to – and planned to – kill every last one of them he couldn’t risk a dead bandit alerting anyone to his presence until Rhys was secure. The cloaking device served him well, combined with the long shadows and scant light he was steadily progressing from the first level to the second in short time.

Jack felt his watch gently vibrate against his wrist so he ducked in a dark corner and uncloaked himself to see the message. The unthinkable had happened– Rhys’ vitals had suddenly flatlined. All of them.

Jack touched his hand to his ear opening up the comm line, “Light it up.” He said, shooting a bandit in the back of the head as he reactivated the cloaker.  

It was only a moment later when the sound of gunfire could be heard from further down the canyon. A rocket launcher struck the far end of the structure which reverberated in protest but held firm to the rock. The bandits inside the structure came out shooting.

Jack’s joints protested with pain as he ran towards the ramp to the highest level. As he made it to the bottom, a large man in a cloth mask appeared blocking his path. Without thought, Jack raised his weapon and shot the man in the throat.

The bandit staggered and fell sideways off of the ramp to land on the level below with a sickening crunch.

With his way cleared Jack hurried up the ramp.

They knew he was there now though they couldn’t see him. He passed through a group of men that were running out to defend their camp, letting three men get ahead of him only to turn and shoot two of them in the back of the head before the sniper he’d placed exploded the head of the third in an explosion of gore.

Worn sneakers carried him across the final stretch of walkway just as his armored team rolled up to the outskirts of the camp.

His own voice sounded over the Echo Comm, “Alright ya bunch of pukes. Handsome Jack  here to take back what you stole from me. Hand over the nerd and I won’t have to kill every last, useless one of you.”

Jack braced himself for what he would see when he entered the bunker though his mind just kept wishing ‘Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.”

He came around the doorway and blasted the lone remaining occupant of the room in face, he laser virtually disintegrating him as he fell to the floor in a bubbling heap.  

Rhys’ echo eye had been forcibly removed, the wires that had connected the core trailing down from the mostly empty socket. His arm, too, had been removed– though somewhat more carefully than the eye. A single chain trapped Rhys’ good arm to the wall.

Rhys looked up at him with his lone brown eye and smiled faintly, “Jack,” he breathed, “you came.”

Jack was joyous with relief, “Of course I came, pumpkin, I couldn’t leave my best boy with these frickin’ savages.” With careful aim he shot the chain and Rhys’ arm was freed.

“Thank god. They smell terrible.” Rhys tested the feeling in his recently liberated arm.

Jack extended a  large hand down to the kid to help pull him to his feet. “I thought they killed you… your vitals…” He cleared his throat in an effort to cover how choked his voice sounded.

“Yeah, they thought they could sell the eye and the arm. They disconnected them… pretty roughly.” He swayed a bit on his feet and jack kicked the only chair over to him.

“Sit. You aren’t looking so good.”

Rhys acquiesced and thumped into the seat, leaning his head back against the wall.

Jack frowned, stepping in front of him to keep his gun trained on the door. “I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.”

“God,” Rhys rolled his one good eye. “Can we do this later?”

There were gunshots, explosions, and screaming down below. “Yeah… we’re gonna let my men sweep up these cretins. We have a shuttle ready out in the desert to take you home. You in pain?”

“Yeah… a little,” Rhys said. “They weren’t really gentle about pulling my gear out. I hope they didn’t fuck up my brain.”

“You know I’ve got the best doctors money can buy. We’ll look you over good once you’re home.” Jack spoke reassuringly. His anger had had calmed, mostly. Rhys was safe and they were going to be alright. It was just a matter of time.

‘Who needs a hero?” Jack’s voice could be heard crowing triumphantly as the doppelganger stepped into the doorway with a ridiculous wink.

Jack gave his double a dark look, “I told you- no winking. Did you get them all? Are we clear?”

“Yeah,” The man sounded less like Jack now when he spoke; the cadence of his words was different– more mild mannered than the man he impersonated. “Yeah, we’re all good, boss.”

“You catch any live ones?” Jack’s eyes narrowed.

The doppelganger looked a bit anxious, “No sir… We tried… but you know how these bandits are. They know even if they surrender they’re as good as dead. Damn, Rhys. You look terrible.”

“I’ll be fine.” Rhys assured as he turned away and worked at unbuttoning his ragged button-down so he could wind it around his head to cover his eye.

“Tell the troops here I’m going to send them some reinforcements and have them scour the desert for stragglers. Have them raze every last filthy camp in this sector,” Jack ordered.

“Yes, sir.” the double’s perfectly coiffed hair bobbed as he strolled off to handle the business of being Jack.

Rhys insisted on walking without any aid though he walked slowly. Once buckled into his seat of their private shuttle his hand reached out for Jack’s and held it as the rockets fired up, hurtling them back to their home.

____________________________

The first day back had been a long stressful day of surgery for Rhys.  He demanded to have everything replaced immediately with complaints of how naked he felt without his arm and eye. 

Jack spent the long hours walking up and down the corridor of the private medical lab as they worked on installing his new equipment. It took effort to repress a strong urge to punch the orderlies in the face out of pure stress and frustration. His mind played out an array of scenarios in which he had failed to make it on time to Rhys’ aid and it was disconcerting how empty it made him feel.

After the procedures, they returned security of Jack’s large penthouse so he could rest.

Rhys was already as good as living there. Sure, he still had some clothes and stuff in the apartment he shared with his weird friends but he hadn’t slept there in months.

There was always work to do so while he slept Jack spent some time getting things done.

When he heard him up and moving around in the bedroom Jack decided to make him a treat. After going through all his cupboards he realized he had the opportunity to make a masterpiece. With his ingredients marshalled, he assembled a sundae.

It was magnificent. Resting upon a large, singular mound of blackberry ice cream was a replica of Helios. Two rectangular bars of traditional shortbread cookie were paired with a vanilla wafer to serve as the hub. He pipped chocolate details onto the sugary Helios as well as putting a chocolate swirl around edge of the ice cream. The final touch was just a drizzle of mango sauce representing the crackening. He carried it along with a bottle of water to the bedroom.

Rhys was hunched forward at his workstation, leaning on an elbow when Jack pushed through the unlatched door. The room was still dim from Rhys long post-surgery nap, the only light was the soft ambient glow an inset wall light ran across the whole north end of the room two feet up from the ground and the light from his computer monitor.

The younger man was dressed in a soft robe with the right sleeve removed so as to not impede his cybernetic arm. He didn’t seem to notice Jack’s entry and began typing again.

Jack strolled up behind him and bent forward to kiss him on the head, pushing his keyboard out of the way with the bowl.

Rhys looked up, brow furrowed, “Hey!” before his lips split into a sad smile as he took a closer look at the carefully presented ice cream sundae. “Jack,” he sighed the name out, low and full of fondness as he looked over the frozen treat before him with hungry eyes.

“You’re still supposed to be resting, doctor and mechanic’s orders. Come on. I made you a tiny Helios. Eat it,” He ordered before tacking on a “please.”

The cyborg’s smile didn’t meet his intentionally mismatched eyes. The new one was almost distractingly golden yellow. “I will… this looks amazing. Thank you.” The echo flashed intensely yellow a moment as he took a picture of the sundae before digging into Elpis with the spoon.”  

Jack leaned forward and looked at the computer screen to see what his partner was up to, “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Blah, I regret to inform you.” He looked down at Rhys, “Is this what you’re working on– Condolence letters for the survey team? Pumpkin, that’s… not work you need to be doing. We’ll have your assistant handle it.” He leaned forward and spun Rhys screen away to drive it out of his mind. “I know, you feel bad… that some people kinda… died… but they died protecting you sweetheart.”

“Why do you think I’m so upset?” Rhys replied a little louder than necessary, his frustration clear.

“That’s what I pay them to do!” Jack said, raising his voice to match Rhys’ before realizing that was probably uncalled for. “People die for me all the time. This is a rough industry… this isn’t teaching kindergarten… I mean… what do you expect?” He stood behind Rhys’ chair, carefully massaging his shoulders.

“I didn’t expect to feel so messed up about it!” He leaned forward and spun his screen back to face him. “But I do… and I’m not going to have an underling do this. I need to do it. No one’s ever died because of me before.”

Jack sighed, “Well… you always wanted to be in the big leagues and that’s how things work up at the top. I got a lot of enemies, cupcake, and Pandora isn’t a cake walk. These soldiers are the first but they are definitely not going to be the last to croak watching your back so you better make peace with that.”

Rhys sighed and bowed his head. He knew it was not what he wanted to hear but Jack preferred to tell him the things he needed to hear. “You warned me I wasn’t bringing enough security. I should have listened.”

“You’ll live longer yourself, listening to me, that’s for sure. Look… I guess, if you feel you need to do this, then do it… but not now. You’ve been through some traumatic stuff. You never forget the first time you almost got killed by insane people. Come and sit on the couch and eat ice cream. We can watch whatever movie you want to put on.”

Rhys  deliberated on it for a moment before he reached out to shut off the monitor. He braced a hand on the desk to rise and pick up his bowl. “Okay.”

They walked to the living room and Jack settled down on the end of his plush sectional couch and Rhys sat beside him, leaning into him just a little.

The younger man held the bowl with his metal hand and used the other to pick up one of the shortbreads. He ran it through the ice cream and sauce before biting it in half.

“Not even Zarpedork could destroy Helios like that.” Jack observed with a sly smile.

Rhys chuckled, “If you hadn’t made it so delicious this wouldn’t be a problem.”   

Jack’s chest felt tight and he noticed an ache there that he had not realized was present until now. His voice came out especially tight, “Rhys… I want you to know… I was really worried that I was going to lose you.” Generally, he went out of his way to avoid appearing vulnerable, even with Rhys. They had only been together just shy of a year and it was hard for a man like Jack to trust. If he showed any bit of his soft underbelly it only ever felt like an invitation for a knife.

Rhys ran the other half of the cookie across the ice cream and put it to Jack’s lips, “I’m sorry I scared you.” He wouldn’t meet Jack’s eyes.

Jack accepted the treat and chewed which gave him time to think about a reply. “It’s okay. We both… learned some junk from the whole mess, at least… right?”

“I definitely learned not to underestimate Pandora.” Rhys sighed, “What did you learn?”

Jack leaned in close and kissed Rhys on the side of his face with sweet and sticky lips. “I learned that I love you, you nerd.”

Rhys’ brows lifted sharply. Neither one had said the big “L” word yet– at least never in direct reference to each other. They had both stated that they loved any of a number of sexual positions and various parts of each other’s bodies, but never the whole person.

“You do?” Rhys seemed like he was skeptical of the concept.

“When they yanked your hardware and your vitals flatlined” he shook his head, haunted just by the memory, “I almost lost my mind– I couldn’t imagine waking up without you next to me. I haven’t felt like this about anybody in a long, long time. I like how you care about people… I like how you aren’t afraid to tell me off. I fricken’ love how smart and ambitious you are… how dedicated you are to your work. You paid for that robot arm out of your own pocket just so that you could be more badass at your job. You’re outstanding. You remind me of… me.”

Rhys set the ice cream aside nearby on the couch and shifted to put his arms around Jack. “I… “ He cleared his throat. “Are you sure you don’t regret… taking me on? I’m not as good at all of this as you. I almost got killed by shitty bandits. They didn’t even have a cool, imposing leader.”

Jack snorted, “Pumpkin… we work good together. You’re the ying to my yang.  The peanut butter to my chocolate. Remember when you stopped me from airlocking that one scientist and then he invented that grenade mod that is making mad money on the southern shelf?”

“Yeah… Doctor Bains.” Rhys reminded him, “You weren’t really happy I had an opinion on it at the time.” His jaw appeared tense.

It was difficult to not get distracted by his younger lover’s cheekbones. “You were right and I was glad I listened. So next time listen to me when I tell you to take more men- and when I say I love you. I don’t say things like that… lightly.”

Rhys sat up and lifted one leg to straddle both Jack’s. His robe fell open a bit wider, revealing more of his tattooed chest. “I… love you too, you know. You looked so damn heroic appearing in the doorway like that. Saving me in my darkest hour. I owe you a life debt. Let me pay you back.”

Every selfish fiber in Jack’s being told him to take Rhys and give it to him rough. Jack groaned faintly at the dilemma before becoming resolute, “As amazing as that sounds, I’m going to take a rain check.” His hands moved to Rhys’ hips. “You’re not supposed engaging in any vigorous activity.”

Rhys’ eyes rolled and he pressed his lips to Jack’s for a kiss. “Then do it less… vigorously… I don’t care.”

“You don’t care because you’re tripping on pain meds. Remember the brain surgery you just had, dum dum?” Smiling ruefully, he said, “Sit down and finish your ice cream. We’ll watch a movie.”

Rhys’ narrowed his eyes and his lips twisted into pure petulance. With a sigh he seemed to realize that he was, indeed not up for the action and leaned against Jack’s shoulder for a long moment. “Okay,” he agreed finally and eased back into his seat before picking up his bowl of ice cream. He set the bowl on his knee and used his robotic arm as a remote control to turn on a hilariously terrible movie they both loved.

“You had a hard couple of days… just let me take care of you until you’re feeling better.” Jack looped his arm around his partner. “You can thrill my dick when you’re feeling better.”

Rhys chuckled a little and said, “Okay. I absolutely promise I am going to knock your socks off… eventually.”

“Eventually.” Jack grinned.

When Rhys had finished his ice cream, Jack moved the bowl to the end table and put his arm around him while they watched the screen hero mow down endless soldiers in some sweltering jungle.

Before the big finale Rhys dozed off against Jack’s shoulder; snoring softly in medicated sleep.

Jack rose and carefully hefted Rhys up into his arms to carry him to bed. There was no reason to watch the end of the movie. He knew it by heart. The hero wins.

The hero always wins. 


End file.
